Anna's Pregnancy Journal

So, against all my better judgement, I ventured into making a different blog last month. My hope was to make it semi-public, with photos of our friends and family. Then, I realized that I honestly didn't want to do that...so I deleted it, and here I am. Thank goodness I didn't buy the domain name!

Back at LJ. No photos. First name only. The return to anonymity.

There were multiple reasons for switching back:

1) I started getting annoyed by mommyblogs, so I'm quitting most of those. I'm more entertained by communities, so that's my plan for now.

2) I decided that the photo thing was not worth it, because I didn't want any family angst.

3) Since I wanted the blog to be open to family, I felt restricted in what I could write. Plus, I figured that they really didn't need to know all that much about my life.

4) We're TTC! And I don't want my family following that too closely, it's best for total strangers. ;-)

Ok, so I'm back, and I'll post when I feel like sharing with the world how we're doing on that whole TTC/pregnancy/parenting thingie.

I'm feeling really good right now, it's the kind of feeling that I wish I could bottle up and save for a rainy day - make it something I can remember forever.

I'm still at work, but it's been a good afternoon. I had a couple of meetings regarding research, and we have some good ideas for the future progress of my project. I haven't written much lately partially due to the frustration that my experiment hasn't been working right, and now we might know why! This is good.

Also I got to catch up with a friend at lunch, and I forget how nice it really is to talk about all these crazy parenting thoughts buzzing around my head. I also forgot how nice it is to really talk and open up with someone else. Since high school, I've made very few close girlfriends, actually I'd probably say that I haven't made any, really. I didn't realize how much I missed that until right now.

I'm going to make this a priority, making and keeping female friends. Because as much as I love my husband, it's so important to "care & share" with others! I've been afraid to open up because of a couple of missteps in college - trusting women that I shouldn't have - but this doesn't mean that all women are untrustworthy. It's worth the risk, to make that bond.

How fitting that tonight I'm going to a gathering with some of the women in my church group. I'm just going to soak it all up, and maybe, I'll open up too.

I figured it's a good plan to keep track of my posts in communities.

A while ago, I posted for the first time in booju_mooju, about a topic that hits very close to home - blogging about family.

Right now, I'm keeping this journal to make friends with people who have no clue (hopefully) who I am in real life. This is to keep family members from stumbling across this journal and finding out about pregnancy plans - when I'm not ready for that yet. However, I anticipate that at some point I will want to show it to my friends/family. The question of how much to put out there about yourself and your family is a big one - the internet will keep things FOREVER, so I worry about attaching too much to my name or my children's names. It is likely that I'll keep this journal online only, but who knows.

Original Text & Comments:

Parenting Blogs

It's a slow day, so it's a good time for my first post!

I read my fair share of parenting blogs (My favorite being dooce.com, anyone else venture outside of lj for their blogging fix?) and I often come up with the same question for myself:

What are these parents going to do when their kids are old enough to realize that their personal milestones, funny stories, and bowel movements are documented on the internet? What do you do to protect your child/family's privacy?

I've given a lot of thought to this, as I don't have kids yet and want to make this decision before blinded by the MY BABY IS SO CUTE EVERYONE MUST SEE mentality. Anyway, I've decided that as interesting as it sounds - I'm not blogging my family. You never know what will make a family member uncomfortable, and it's just not worth it to me. However, I'm impressed by the writing of some of these parents, and it's interesting to hear their stories! So, I guess I just hope that they've thought it through and made a logical decision.

http://community.livejournal.com/booju_mooju/499359.html

...was on the Colbert Report the other day. Her point of view is that Women Must Work. Women should want to work outside the home. Women should not want to stay home with their children. A woman who chooses to stay home with her child is Wrong.

What a nutcase.

I think that if a women chooses to return to work, great! If a woman chooses to be a SAHM, great! Who the heck is she to tell women that their careers are more important than their children??

A post in attachedparents reminded me of this idea. When I was in kindergarten, we did a little project where we put our handprints on a square piece of burlap tied to a rod and string. On the hanging was a poem:

Here are my hands, so tiny and small
To hang somewhere upon the wall
To watch as years go flying by
How we grow - My hands and I

I hope to do this with my kids and to hang it up alongside mine!

Mind you, I am not that old. Just keep that in mind while reading this post. I was just at a pool party with lots of kids, and it was a great time. The funniest thing was all the newfangled child flotation devices out there. Not just the normal water wings, these kids had live jackets, life jackets sewn inside of wetsuits, water buoys strapped to their backs...it was nuts! All the better to keep them safe, I suppose. I just didn't know I was so out of the loop.

I was talking with a coworker today about cars, as hers has broken down and she's now being charged $500 for who-knows-what. Eventually we got to the issue of first cars, and she remarked that her parents got her a nice new car at 16...that she wrecked six times in high school. Damn. Now, I didn't get a new car at 16, nor did I get an old junker. No, I didn't even get a license because my parents didn't want to pay the insurance. I know, poor poor me...but I got over it, and I learned to drive at age 21 while living in an insanely large and busy city. Not optimal.

The plan for the future is that my kids will learn to drive at the appropriate age; however, they will share an old behemoth of a car with their siblings. This plan has many factors:

(1) We cannot afford new cars, especially for teenagers.
(2) Even if we could, they are not going to learn on a NEW car that will get RUINED by their lack of skillz.
(3) I cannot stand the idea of teenagers driving alone, in a line, in new cars, with $3/gallon gas prices, half a mile to school. Wastes gas, causes traffic, reeks of entitlement. They'll walk/bus/carpool!

I have some time to get this issue ironed out as I, um, don't have kids yet, but I just wanted to document this idea. My future teenagers will not receive new cars on their 16th birthdays.

...unless I win the lottery.